Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's 213GB storage hogging is because of 'open world Zombies' but don't panic it can be reduced

modern warfare 3
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

A complete install of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with the full "high-rez assets cache" shizzle comes to a slightly silly 213GB.  According to the game's official Twitter / X / whatever account that's because "zombies" and some other stuff. But don't panic, you can "uninstall specific content you are not actively playing".

More specifically, it's conceded that files sizes for this version of Call of Duty are larger than before. The reason?

"This is due to the increased amount of content available Day 1, including open world Zombies, support for item carry forward from #MW2, as well as map files for current Call of Duty: Warzone."

So there you go. Open world zombies are particularly storage intensive. Well, that and carry-forward maps and stuff. Slightly confusingly, the post also claims, "as part of our ongoing optimization efforts, your final installation size will be actually smaller than the combined previous Call of Duty experiences." 

That implies that there is ongoing work on reducing the overall installation size of Modern Warfare 3. Of course, the headline 213GB was always a worst case scenario.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

(Image credit: Activision)

In practice, few existing CoD gamers will have to give over that much space to the new title. But there's also little doubting that game install sizes continue to balloon.

Peak Storage

SATA, NVMe M.2, and PCIe SSDs on blue background

(Image credit: Future)

Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.
Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.
Best external hard drives: Huge capacities for less.
Best external SSDs: Plug-in storage upgrades.

As we said before, SSD prices have fallen dramatically, with 2TB models on our deals page falling under $100. That sounds impressive, but in a world where a single game can suck up hundreds of GB a pop, even 2TB doesn't allow for a particularly big game library. And with SSD chip makers starting to increase costs, the storage good times may not last too much longer.

The retort might be that gamers tend to focus on only a few titles at a time. So, who needs hundreds of games installed at the same time?

If the actual number of games anyone wants to have installed at one time is a pretty personal thing, there also has to be a point at which game install sizes get silly. And if it's not 213GB, we'd like to know what it is.

It'll be interesting to see exactly how much space Modern Warfare 3 sucks up when it launches in exactly one week's time. Likewise, we'll keep our scanners peeled to see if that figure reduces over time. Watch this space.

Jeremy Laird
Hardware writer

Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.

Read more
An ogre spreads his arms wide
What's the biggest game on your computer, and is it really worth the space?
Characters with guns next to a train
Call of Duty's development budget ballooned by $250 million between 2015 and 2020 to an eye-watering $700 million
Western Digital NvMe SSDs.
Quit worrying about game install sizes with these future-proof SSDs
Faust points accusingly at Strider.
Stalker 2 revives A-Life with a mondo-huge 110 GB Christmas patch that marks the game's first major update
A screenshot taken from the 2025 Nvidia tech demo Zorah
I've been testing Nvidia's new Neural Texture Compression toolkit and the impressive results could be good news for game install sizes
A collection of NVMe SSDs on orange.
Best cheap SSD deals for gaming today
Latest in Storage
An image of a WD_Black SN850X SSD against a teal background with a white border
The best 1 TB gaming SSD you can buy is now just $79, the cheapest it's been for a good while
WD Black SN850X SSD on a gaming PC case.
Looks like we won't be seeing Western Digital SSDs in our gaming PCs as the company hands the reins back over to SanDisk
A SanDisk Desk Drive external SSD on a blue background
I adore this chunky, reliable external SSD, so for a third off the 4 TB version I will absolutely recommend it in a heartbeat
The Buffalo RUF3-KEV USB drive on a red-orange gradient
This USB flash drive has a built-in anti-malware system, but I still wouldn't use one I found in a parking lot
The WD Black SN850X 8 TB out of the packaging.
If you thought PCIe Gen 5 SSDs were a little pointless, don't worry, here comes 32 GB's worth of Gen 6 technology
Adata SE880 external SSD
Adata SE880 1 TB external SSD review
Latest in News
Sennheiser HD 550 on a white box.
Sennheiser says it 'will not become a gaming brand' but its new HD 550 are a good excuse to use audiophile headphones for gaming
Virtual human head divided into horizontal layers in various skin tones.
The future of robots is looking ever more meaty as MIT researchers grow first bidirectional muscle tissue machine
Three sheep with big guns in Palworld.
It was 'super popular to hate Palworld' after launch, says community manager: 'A lot of companies might crumble under the threats, under the pressure'
Palworld Ancient Civilization Parts - Grizzbolt with a minigun
'It was a very depressing day': Palworld community manager reveals studio's reaction to Nintendo lawsuit
CS 1.6 remade in CS: Legacy.
A gorgeous ground-up remake of Counter-Strike 1.6 is on its way to Steam, and one of the game's original creators says 'it really gives me old vibes'
Portal P3 pinball table
There's a new Portal game and it costs $12,500